Spring 2013 Newsletter Highlights

Spring 2013 Newsletter Highlights:

This spring, we changed up our newsletter design and format. We’re always looking for innovative ways to connect with our supporters and feature the great work our donors are supporting and our schools are doing! Keep reading to get some highlights of this new issue.

Article on the Direction and Goals of Jubilee

Beyond our financial and academic achievements, Jubilee has made strategic organizational changes. We hired a new staff member, Claire Margheim, to handle events and communications, and our board approved a strategic plan. This plan lays out our identity and purpose, vision and history, case for support, and values. Jubilee’s staff and board now have a unified understanding and a shared vocabulary about our organization that can be used to define and promote Jubilee’s mission.

Profile of member school, UrbanPromise Academy:

In 1988, local missionaries started a summer camp in Camden, New Jersey, to keep kids off the streets. This camp was so effective and its founders to committed that it eventually grew to become a successful, international organization called UrbanPromise. The organization now encompasses two schools, after-school programs, job training and more. One such program is the UrbanPromise Academy (UPA).

Founded in 1997, UPA is a Christian high school serving 42 students that face severe educational and environmental challenges. UPA has even received national recognition on ABC’s 20/20 with Diane Sawyer for its unique and varied educational model. Click here to learn more, or download our full newsletter.

Spotlight on Dhanté, a Jubilee Scholarship Student Who Went From School Bully to Non-Violence Award Winner

Dhanté had been kicked out of eleven public schools before attending Philadelphia Mennonite High School (PMHS), where he was sent as a last resort. He tried to use force to control his environment, but this behavior soon alienated him from most of the staff and his classmates.

When his bullying and bad language reached a boiling point, Principal Dr. Barbara Moses finally said he would have to leave. Dhanté begged not to go, so Dr. Moses offered him the option of studying conflict resolution and anger management, and if he turned around his behavior, he could stay. Through the hard work of his teachers, and against all odds, he turned his life around.

His sister Brianna, who’d gone through the program herself, said “Dhanté became a whole different person.” Eventually he approached all the students and teachers he’d offended and apologized. “I never apologized in public school,” he said. The remarkable improvement he made in relationships led to his receiving the school award for non-violence. To read about Dhanté’s love of music and life goal, download our newsletter.

*We could not have put out this wonderful newsletter without the help of our volunteer writer, Pat Van Antwerpen, and our amazing designer, Rodd Whitney from Cause Design.